OK, I don't think I've ever had so much fun. The problem is that I am going to be selling the photos and story, so I'm somewhat limited in what I can share until I know more (probably by tomorrow).
I was everywhere. I have blisters on my feet from chasing down people. My feet were so swollen that the moment I got in last night, I slathered them in cortisone cream! We were always on the run, literally. I'm happy to think I may have lost a little weight - what great exercise!
I met Gene Simmons and young Marco Andretti and got their autographs (and my picture with both of them). I also ran into some local and national celebrities who knew me from previous encounters, and (I believe) Leona Helmsley (covered in a big hat and large sunglasses) fresh from a new bout with her plastic surgeon.
We walked down the line of cars as they were ready to enter the track, taking pictures that reflected the hope and excitement of the drivers and their teams. We also got pictures of the cars which wrecked or had to be pulled out early, and the teams wheeling them back in. We were all over the track just prior to the race, and got to see Helio Castroneves ("Spiderman") attempt to scale the fence when he finally won.
I will hopefully be able to give you more details tomorrow.
Big Brother
George Orwell couldn't dream up anything better than this. There is a company that is coming into Florida under contract with Homeland Security. I choose not to divulge the name right now, because (for all I know) they are one of many. They will be stringing cable down the highways so that cameras and other spy equipment can be posted. This way Big Brother can watch you alllllll the way - from your point of departure to your destination, from here to there, from cradle to grave.
Are you aware this is happening?
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33 comments:
Wow! Sounds like a LOT of fun. Celebrities who knew you, huh? Are you famous? Glad you had such a good time!
Miss C, just minor-famous due to PR/journalism.
Letter A, she is famous.
Letter B, that is Ms. Kraut to you.
And letter C: I personally am glad there will be more spy cameras on the highway: that way they get more raw footage for the extreme camera action shows on fox.
Leona? scareyyyyyyyyy
as far as cameras go? Get used to it. Just assume that if you are in public, there will be a camera on you. The only good news? Information overload will make it impossible to micromanage it all. More bad news? Computers are gettign smarter.....
Mallory, so you're accepting this, and you're not at all concerned about a right to privacy? Or that someday the gov't may be deliberately tracking you?
Alex, Not famous. Not yet! ;o) There will definately be more highway footage. But doesn't it make you slightly nervous?
I used to live one block from the most dangerous intersection in the U.S. according to my insurance company. Every day, twice a day, I would see at least five or six cars run a red light and almost everyday there was an accident or a new pile of headlight glass. Then they put in a camera and sent automatic tickets through the mail. Within a month, I would go long periods of time without seeing someone red the light and never again saw an accident.
So cameras out in public have their places in my opinion. In your case, I don't know the reason. I guess I would argue that when you are out in public, you don't have the expectation of not being caught on camera anymore so therefore it can't be infringing upon your freedom of privacy.
Ed, I know the argument, and I do understand it and agree to a certain extent.
But my bigger concern is this: (I'll make it personal to you to make my point, but everyone has a potential achilles' heel) Say one day the government begins to persecute all Asians and children of Asians. You're married to a Filipino, and suddenly your entire family is as suspect as the Jews were during the rise of Hitler's Nazis. How much easier will it be for the government to restrict, and track, your actions and the actions of those you love? See how it can become a misused tool quite easily?
Wow! Sounds like you are a new James Bond type of woman! I cannot wait to hear what transpires, and hope you post more on line.
By the way: I have a post that might interest you today.
What fun! I remember the very first real race I ever went to. It was at Lagina Seca on the Moterey Peninsula. I was hooked. Since then Iv'e seen just about every kind of race... not Formula One, but close - I saw the Indy cars at Laguna Seca. I'll say this and be done: TV does NOT do racing justice!
On BB: No, I didn't know, but sadly I am not surprised.
~Mike
It definitely could be a slippery slope Saur. I could probably be talked out of this but I need more information as to their use. For basic monitoring of traffic or reckless driving, I think the benefits out weigh the risks.
Ed, but that's how it starts: you start out with a hopeful, harmless, or even positive use for it, without mentioning (or maybe even contemplating) a more sinister use. That gets the foot in the door, and soon the rest gets in as well. I know, I know. I sound like a nutty conspiracy theorist, but you know me well enough by now to know that I have my feet on the ground.
Mike A, oh it was awesome. You woulda loved it! I thought it would be sorta dull, but it was wild!
Barbara, it did interest me! I really got into the reply, as you'll see.
You lead an exciting life!
On the "spying," I'm against all this "big brother" stuff. RIGHT NOW the government can check to see what books you take out of the library. So if we get a government that is against Christians, and you check out a Bible from the library, you might be in trouble.
People need to think through all the possibilities. We are a free people. We have to watch the government, not the other way aroung.
TLP, 'zactly!!!
There's a book by David Brin called The Transparent Society. His thesis is that it's too late to close the Box, that what we need to concentrate on is making sure that the watchers are themselves closely watched.
Face recognition software is the thing that worries me more than mere cameras.
Daveawayfromhome, Brin's an excellent writer. So many SciFi writers are merely cutting-edge philosophers, dressing up there theories to appeal to the masses, don't you think? I agree that it may be too late to close the box. The only way to watch the watchers is to demand that the people monitoring the cameras are publicly elected and not appointed by shadowy government officials. Perhaps not every one would be elected, but electing team leaders that are directly responsible for small teams of people would be achievable.
Face recognition IS terrifying technology. Even more terrifying will be the society that accepts it at face value (pun intended) because it will be very easy to photoshop the images and alter them as necessary.
How FUN that must have been!
I'm sure your feet were happy to be there, even though they took a beating.
The excitement must have been electrifying. I can't imagine all the adrenaline that was pumping!
Very cool, indeed.
Let me put it this way. What happens if personal financial information was stored on the back of plastic cards and you were required to have one to purchase stuff over the internet, get a bank load or reserve a hotel room? This information is then stored in huge databases where the government could potentially look at them.
Or perhaps your shopping habits were tracked by a store and stored in a huge database to figure out who is a serial mechandise returner or to see when the last time you bought something at there store was?
In the former I was referring to credit cards and the latter is currently done by Wal-Mart. Both of those could also be used to no good by someone and yet they are largely accepted. I'm sure if I actually put my mind to it I could think of many forms of technology that has fairly harmless uses currently but could be used in bad ways in the future. I think that person before me was right. The box has already been opened and can no longer be shut.
P.S. Don't worry, I don't believe you are a conspiracy theorist... yet. :)
Remind me not to pick my nose while driving in Florida!
Jamie Dawn, it was such a rush! I loved it!
Ed, ahhh, but that information is in the hands of private and semi-private companies for their use only. But this info will be for the government, and potentially many government employees that we know nothing about, and governments can change and alter laws and living conditions at will where private companies can't (look at the property rights issues).
Nihilistic, :D This reminds me of what my son, SaurKid, said the other day while we were driving: "Ewwww!"
What do you mean, I asked.
"Some guy over there just picked his nose and ate it," said SaurKid. "He was turning his head away from the passenger so the passenger wouldn't see it. As if no one else would!!!"
Glad to hear you had a great time at the Gand Prix.... even if your feet took a licking.
We have photo enforced lights up here in Atlanta... for those who like to run the *reds*. I'm all for that... but am not to particularly pleased to see that they can catch us at any moment on the road. It seems to me that we would get more bang for our buck if we spent the money on truly necessary things such as a fence on the borders, re-building of the Gulf Coast, better medical benefits for those in need.... oh, how the list could go on and on.....
That way, I won't see somebody picking their nose on the blooper shows... because you know that's where a lot of the footage will go.
Yes, Saur, the cameras do bother me as well.
As far as the traffic control benefits are concerned, I was reading on another blog that studies have been done on simply making the amber light longer to reduce the red light runners. The studies revealed that this did, in fact, reduce significantly the number of people who ran red lights, and all without the use of cameras.
Having these cameras everywhere might seem like a good idea to most people, but the fallacy of human nature is often not considered with regard to new technologies---power corrupts.
I believe there will come a time when people will begin to loathe these new technologies because of abuses by governments.
BTW, glad you had a great time at the race!
That sounds like an expensive amount of cameras.
Wow, sounds like a wonderful time. It is worth the exhaustion.
That cable? They told me it was for "American Idol" auditions. And I danced all over I-35. What the...?
Homeland Security is a big SCAM. It is all about giving contracts to companies that have ties to Bush or his buddies - not about making the homeland more secure.
By the way, remember my post mentioning Edmund Burke? The guy who, according to the neo-cons, laid the foundation for what they believe? Well here is another quote from him.
"When the government wants a war, hold onto your wallet"
We already have cameras on the freeways in Scottsdale, AZ. It's SICK, I tell you.
I don't like the idea of the government syping on me either. I don't use a debit card and I have never had an ATM card. I like to pay cash when possible. I do make some automatic payments from my bank account and I do use my charge card when I have to.
Glad you had a good time at the race. What were the kids doing while you were running around interviewing people?
big brother....
the words "self-pleasuring while driving" come to mind. after those words the Florida tradition of shooting at road signs, may not have been considered.
Saur, as regards the increasing camera population? not at all, but right now I do not see a whole lot we can do about the increased monitoring in public places
The increased monitoring communications REALLY scares the heck out of me
Glad you had a great time at the race! Sounds like a blast!
I'm a little torn on the camera issue. Everybody loves to see a crime (like a child abduction) solved when caught on tape. I don't however, think cameras on the highway are necessary, except perhaps at busy intersections or toll booths. In Atlanta, we received a toll booth violation (our au pair using another au pair's pass card), complete with a picture of her going through the toll. Pretty slick.
I'm more bothered by the government library monitoring -- I can't see any valid reason for gathering that information. It should be like the name: FREE Public Library!
When I go to a store (I don't go to Walmart on principle, but others do the same thing), I tell them I don't want to give my zip. They can make one up for all I care. I have entered it for credit card purchase, but I think that protects me for billing purposes...
Maybe I will invest in a vinyl face mask company....
We should all buy George Bush masks, along with T-Shirts that read "I am a terrorist" or "Ask me about my bombs for sale" or even "Someone please teach me to read".
That ought to mess up the cameras a bit.
I don't follow races much, but it sounds exciting. The only auto race I ever followed up close was the Italian Mille Millia (or something like that, a thousand mile road race) in 1957. A friend and I were hitchhiking across Italy. We were let out at the road that showed on the map and began walking. We walked for almost an hour, and no cars came along. Suddenly an army-colored 1950 something car sped up to us and two U.S. MPs jumped out, threw us (literally) into the back seat of their car and whizzed down the road, turning into a restaurant parking lot (sans cars). We were cursed at for a bit, and then along came cars with numbers on them. All kinds, VWs, formula I types (according to the MPs) etc. We discovered that we were hitchhiking right through one of the worlds most famous auto races. A race driver, Count--Portado or something like that-- was killed in a crash only a mile or so from us. (He was the boyfriend of a famous movie actress Linda-- something that I also don't remember) We were there late into the evening before the MPs gave us a lift into a town and turned us loose.
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